


Simple

by pollyglyph



Category: One Piece
Genre: Gen, we all just want redemption for kaku right?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-08
Updated: 2019-08-08
Packaged: 2020-08-13 05:46:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 400
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20169130
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pollyglyph/pseuds/pollyglyph
Summary: Kaku's undercover persona is a simpler version of himself.





	Simple

He makes the mistake early in his training of crafting personas too elaborate and eccentric just for his own amusement. His tales become either too long-winded or ridden full of plot-holed paradoxes that only prove his false identity’s saboteur.

_Keep it to the point and consistency follows._

His mission in Water Seven is the first time Kaku lives according to that mantra, when he’s forced out of the door fresh and green into his first real mission. He bases this mask on a simpler version of himself. He likes to run and he likes watching the tall ships come and go in the harbour. He wonders where they came from, and where they’d go next.

As he settles into living a simpler life, he starts to see the appeal of being a Kaku that hasn’t been trained to be a killer for hire and a liar for pay. While it ran contrary to his profession, Kaku feels more comfortable with honesty. And he loves running, and he’s starting to love building ships.

He wakes before even the sunrise for his ten kilometres first thing. Before he even has breakfast, he gets the hit of adrenalin into his system, jumping off rooftops to kick-start the day. The rush is more elating than the grip of battle and the routine, more all-encompassing than even the fear of death.

Each day he learns something new about ships from Mr Iceburg or his other senior colleagues at Galley-La. These are things that haven’t been drilled into him with threat of violence or discipline. Instead they’re things he is genuinely interested to learn. Ways to use his hands to build instead of break. To craft vessels that would go places and he’d wonder where.

And in his simple life, he finds a simple affection for the people and places peppered into the routine he builds around him. He doesn’t stray from his poised detachment, but there are many times it would be so easy for him to give into his feelings for this vibrant and lively city, the ultimate failure.

_Emotional attachment is a sign of weakness._

It is something he was always taught and blindly believes until the moment he finds it blatantly challenged. The more he and Lucci knock Paulie down, the more he finds an impossible strength to keep getting up. Kaku finally gets how powerful loyalty and love could really be.


End file.
